O’Bryant Antonio Muralles
oam9@txstate.edu
SAN MARCOS, Texas — Following the recent school shooting in Parkland, Fla. and the March for Our Lives events this past weekend, gun control is a difficult subject to ignore. The discussion centers around safety. Some citizens hold guns responsible for the lack of safety nationwide in schools, while others attribute guns as the vehicles of increased safety in households.
This conversation came to San Marcos as a question: should K-12 teachers arm themselves with guns?
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| Clayton Taylor Photo by O'Bryant Muralles |
Native Clayton Taylor, a single father of a 4-year-old girl, has
no problem with teachers at his daughter's preschool bringing
guns to school as a precaution.
“I actually just enrolled my daughter in a private
school and they asked me, ‘Are you going to be ok with teachers
being armed? They’ve had training,'" said Taylor. "I’m cool with it."
However, knowing that the teachers at the school were
armed with guns did not give him peace of mind. He said that the teachers only
received a three-day training, and he would prefer them to go through extensive training so they don’t panic in the event of a shooting.
“I believe they should be out there with people
shooting off blanks so they can get that feel of an actual combat,” said
Clayton.
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| Gabriel Newton Photo by O'Bryant Muralles |
“I think a lot of minorities would be
scared in class if they saw a teacher walk by with a gun on his or her hip,”
said Newton.
With the recent frequency of school shootings, he doesn't feel that adding more guns to classrooms is the solution.
“I think students would not want to come to school,”
said Newton.
If it were up to him, Newton would have more security guards and a stronger police presence at the schools to stop the shootings.
Not everyone agrees that adding more police will
detour shooters from entering a school.
For Jacob Seabolt, a criminal justice student at Texas
State University people should be arming and protecting themselves
and not rely on the government.
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| Jacob Seabolt Photo by Hallie Colbert and Angelica Cruz |
“I don’t think there should be any gun control at all.
I think people should be able to have any kind of gun that they want,” said
Seabolt.
According to Seabolt, if there were a stronger police presence at schools, the police would be limited to what they are ordered and therefore able to do, especiall in the Parkland case.
“The [Broward] Sheriff’s Office didn’t do enough
to stop it," said Seabolt. "[They] gave the order for those guys not to go in.”
Some people, even those who grew up around guns, such as Jamie
Bouzard, the Director of Christ Chapel of Texas State University, look to other countries’ laws on gun control as an example.
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| Jamie Bouzard Photo by Shelley Keller |
In 1996, after Australia had their
worst mass-shooting, parliament enacted a ban on all rapid fire guns which caused a decline in gun related deaths, according to USA Today.
Texas State student, Alexa Browning,
believe that small amendments can be taken to help start gun control reform.
“I think one of the most realistic steps we can take
for gun control is raising the age of purchasing a gun to 21,” said Browning.
Browning's logic is that with the exception of teachers those people,most people at high schools, middle schools, or elementary schools are not over the age 21. Therefore an increase in the legal age of owning a gun would help stop the flow of guns into those places. This is especially true when remembering Columbine two
shooters, Dylan and Eric, were both 18.
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| Alexa Browning Photo by Rachel Lauten |
“I’ve been in situations where teachers that I’ve
dealt with throughout my year that had a [mental] breakdown,” said Harvey.
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| Hannah Mose Harvey Photo courtesy of Houston ISD |
As the March for our lives events have demonstrated, gun control is an issue that will not be leaving the public eye soon.
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